Tuesday 20 July 2021

What did He look like?

 

Doesn't it strike you as strange that nowhere in the Bible we have a description of Jesus? We are told He was born as a baby, He was twelve when His parents found Him preaching in the temple, He was a grown man when He started His Mission on earth.

We are not told by the Gospel writers, or by Luke who also wrote the Acts of the Apostles, the colour of Jesus' hair, the colour of His eyes, how tall He was, or anything specific about His features. 

I guess we can tell how tall He was by the shape left on the Turin shroud. And some artists have tried to use this as the basis of paintings of what Jesus looked like. But yet, many people doubt the authenticity of the Turin shroud; so a debate about this will not lead very far.

The fact remains that no Bible writer has described Jesus. Why is that?

Is it perhaps because they did not consider the physical description of Christ as relevant to His Mission on earth? After all, they do not describe the disciples either. We assume that Peter was big and tall; but that's because that's the way he was portrayed in films. Do we really know how he and the other followers of Jesus looked like? They may have been tall, short, thin, fat, walked with a limp or whatever. 

What we do know about Jesus, however, is more important.

He was kind, merciful, compassionate, forgiving, caring and loving. He was all-powerful, and if He wanted to He could have healed millions of people just by clicking His fingers. But He did not do that. On every occasion, and in every Gospel, we read that He treated people on an individual basis. Whether the person was blind, deaf, mute, lame, a leper, infirm, paralysed or possessed by demons; on every occasion, we read that Jesus approached them personally. Spoke to them. Took pity on them; or on the person pleading on their behalf, like the centurion who pleaded for his servant, or Jarius for his daughter. And then, having communicated with them personally, He granted their requests and answered their prayers.

That's the description of Jesus that really matters.

That's what it means when we learn we are made in God's image.

The early writers, and painters, assumed that if we are made in His image, then God must be a man. Because He always existed, then He must be old. So they painted Him with a beard sitting on a cloud.

How wrong they were.

Being made in His image means having the potential to be kind, merciful, compassionate, forgiving, caring and loving.

Sadly, many people these days seem to be intent on being anything but in God's image. Anything but being like Jesus.

26 comments:

  1. ...sad is an understatement!

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  2. This is a good reminder to not evaluate people based on the way they looked.

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  3. Great point! I love to read, and appreciate those writers who paint their characters in such detail (that) I can see them in my mind's eye.

    Years ago I attended a Unity church whose pastor was a great cut-up. One Sunday she recounted the time her elderly father-in-law chastised her: "You smile too much." "What!?!" "Yes, look at all the pictures of Jesus. He never smiled."

    PS - If you don't mind, I'd like to incorporate some of this in an upcoming post.

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    1. Thank you for your compliment, Mevely. Of course, you are welcome to use this post in your writings. You do me a great honour.

      I believe that in the Bible it never mentions Jesus smiling, or having a good laugh, is because His mission on earth was/is too important and vital to our salvation for Him to do or say anything that would trivialise it. We need to remember that His active mission was about three years, in which time He had to teach the people of the time of who He was, who God is, and to spread the Good News far and wide. Hardly any time to have fun!

      The only time He is seen in a relaxing atmosphere was at the wedding in Cana where He performed His first miracle.

      This is significant in many ways:

      Here He underlines the sanctity of marriage.

      Here He performs His first miracle for the benefit and happiness of others. All His miracles were for the good and benefit of others. None were spectacular just to attract attention to Himself.

      Here, at His first miracle, He responds to His mother's request. This is to underline her importance to Christianity and to the fulfilment of God's will in bringing Jesus as a human to this world for our salvation.

      Sorry for the long response. Thanx again, Mevely.

      God bless.

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  4. Dearest Victor,
    Especially at this time and era where so much emphasis is placed on the appearance of one's face, hair, body and whatever. They forget the INSIDE, our soul and often that is completely being knocked off the table. No longer relevant...?! WRONG. The proper balance of body, mind and spirit is still very important and in that we ought to indeed copy the 'image' of Jesus.
    Not the physical image as that is never the most important, it only is very brief that any human being looks good, IF born with attractive features. But being attractive on the inside lasts forever! Such beauty and richness is far more important. Most people however forget to feed their spirit, it is being amputated from its I-V as most think it is no longer needed as we manage it all on our own.
    Only God handles that everlasting I-V and we better make sure we keep it connected... an overdose is impossible!
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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    1. Well said, Mariette. The sad thing is, not many people really believe that we have a soul - that we ARE a soul. They think of the here and now - enjoy today for tomorrow we no longer exist. That's why there's so much materialism and little spiritualism..

      God bless always.

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  5. A great lesson to remind us that it's not looks that matter, it's what's on the inside that counts.
    Blessings, Victor!

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    1. Exactly, Martha. A lesson many are unwilling to learn or listen to.

      God bless you.

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    2. Yes, it is the way we treat others that reflects through Jesus’ ministry. We don't need physical beauty to be beautiful. Beauty comes from within. Helping someone less able than ourselves IS BEAUTIFUL. Blessings.

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    3. Thank you so much for your wisdom, Nells. I hope you're keeping well.

      God bless.

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  6. Looks aren't everything but unfortunately lots of people disagree.

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  7. Maybe there is no description of Jesus because He didn't want people to make images of him and worship it.

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    1. I meant worship the IMAGE and not Jesus!

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    2. Hmmm ... maybe. Yet people have made many images of Jesus. What is wrong is the worshipping of the image or the statue.

      God bless.

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  8. I like your interpretation of "In his image." Excellent point, excellent post.

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  9. Probably no one remembered what he looked like because his deed were far more important. Just like a dozen witnesses won't remember what colour the speeding car was because what happened was far more important.

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  10. Oh Victor, come on. In our family Bible is a great picture of Jesus. It must be right, it is in the middle of the Bible!!
    However you do give a good image of our Lord. Physically I believe he was much more Brown than shown in most interpretations. After all he walked a lot in the sun. Just sayin'
    Good one
    Sherry & jack

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    1. Good point, Jack. There's a lot of photos of Jesus in Bibles and other books. I think one of the Apostles was a photographer. Not so well know. His name was Kodak.

      God bless.

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